Hidden
by ilikefictionalcharacters
Summary: Tessa Gray is a teenager who spends her time fangirling over pizza and living in a parallel universe where she is funny. Then, she meets William Herondale and James Carstairs, completely unlike. She feels this unexplainable attraction to them.


"Bye!" I called to Peter and Erica. We had stayback at college for a project that we have to submit, well, tomorrow. We'd been assigned the project four weeks back, but as always, we were getting it done the night before submission. It was getting dark, and I had to walk back home. I took out my phone and flipped through my playlists. I picked one and random and put on my earphones and headed out of the buliding for the walk home.

The road that I took on my usual way back were barricaded, and I'd have to take the long way back. I mentally swore to never ever leave my work pending till the last day. _"Like you don't do that every time._" The annoying voice inside me whispered, as it always did. I quickly pushed it out, not allowing it to make the already long walk more tiresome. Instead, I focused on the lyrics. Some lyrics are so beautiful when you actually pay attention to every word. Music can make you aware of so many things about yourself, so many feelings that you never knew you could feel. It could tell you an entire story in three minutes.

I turned right and entered the allyway near my house. Almost there.

The allyway was dimly lit. Ugh, I needed to find a new route back home. I hope there weren't any rats here. _Ew, rats._ I silently prayed that the rats would spare me. Anything but rats. I started walking faster, cursing humankind's inability to fly simultaneously.

There was a movement, and I screamed. _No rats, no rats, no rats, no rats. Please._

__"What was that?!' I heard a deep voice say. I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. 'Human! Thank you!' I almost screamed. "Umm, what?" the voice said. It was closer than I'd thought. The fear returned. I prepared myself to attack. The elbow is the strongest part of the body, my PE teacher's voice repeated in my head. Blue eyes appeared in the dark, and I prepared to run. Shady people wandering about the city at night. I was going to let Erica and Peter have a piece of my mind tomorrow. I let out a scream and started running. I must have seemed mad to the person, assuming he wasn't a mad freak himself, but I didn't care. I kept running till I reached my house, panting and ringing the bell.

Nate, my brother opened the door after what seemed like ages. "Are you okay, Tessa?" he asked me. _Do I look okay? _I wanted to ask him, but I decided to keep the cheek to myself. I needed him to get me some food, and keeping my mouth shut would probably help my cause. "Yep, cool. Exercise...you know?" I said. Nate rolled his eyes and muttered something but I didn't care. I was glad to be back home. "Where are mom and dad?" I asked him. "Dinner thing. No clue." he shrugged.

"Can you get me something to eat, please? I'm going to take a shower." I asked Nate. "Sure." he replied. May god bless kind siblings, honestly. "What do you want?"

"Umm, can we have pizza?" I asked him. "I believe we'll end up spending half of the family on buying you pizza, Tessa." Nate said, smiling. "Okay. I'll order. Go have a shower. You look like you've run a marathon."

If only he knew.

I got my pajamas out of my closet and went in to have a shower. I swear, hot showers can fix everything. I quickly showered and got dressed, hoping the pizza would be here. I had literally no self control when it came to pizza. "Good job, Nate!" i said, stepping in to the living room. He'd put on a movie and the pizza was already here. "Always at your service, Ma'am" he said, sticking out his tongue. Nate was younger than me, but sometimes it felt like he was the one taking care of me. And I was happy to let him do that. I loved Nate.

We grabbed the pizza and settled down to watch the movie. Troy. I spent half my time drooling over the pizza, and the other half drooling over Brad Pitt.

Just then, the bell rang. "It must be mom and dad. I'll get it!" Nate said. That's great because I wasn't going to volunteer to get up anyway. Nate Appreciation Day.

"Umm, hi?" I heard the voice. That deep voice from the allyway. _**Ohmygod, STALKER.**_

I grabbed the empty vase lying on the table next to me and went out to help Nate handle this creep. I saw the blue eyes, I couldn't forget those blue eyes. They were piercing. It was him. I screamed and ran to attack when Nate turned around, immediately halting me. "Umm, Tessa?" he asked, quizzingly. "THIS GUY. Stalker! Stay away, Nate. I'll handle this!" I screamed. "Tessa. BREATHE. He's asking for directions. He's moved here recently and he's lost." Nate replied, looking embarrassed. "Directions..? Oh." I said, turning red. "Umm, stalker?" The deep voice said. "I'm...I'm so sorry. I thought-" I started to explain. "You're that girl! From the allyway! Do you always scream this much?" he said, interrupting. "I..." I didn't know whether to speak or to will the earth to open up and swallow me. Wait, no. Swallow me after I finished the pizza inside. Lesson learnt? Never leave your pizza and step out. It wont end well for you. "Is she on drugs?" he asks Nate. I can tell from Nate's expression that he's silently willing the earth to swallow us both, too. And Nate wont even care if I don't get to finish the pizza. **Shit.**

"I made a mistake. Sorry. It was dark and I thought..." I started explaining again, thinking of the unfinished pizza. "Nevermind. Just tell me this address. The streetlights aren't working and I can't find this address." the stranger says. Rude. "Umm, it's the house on the right." I reply, suddenly not feeling as stupid. This guy was obviously the stupid one. Hah. I said. "Cool." he replied and turned away; apparently not thinking of himself as stupid as I did of him. I shut the door, and ignored Nate's furious looks. "I'm finishing the pizza if you don't want it!" I tell him. "Wait! No! You're crazy, Tessa." Nate says, but follows me into the living room. Pizza wins all. I grin, focusing on Brad Pitt again.

I wake up the next morning on the sofa, realizing I must have slept off here last night. Nate was kind enough to give me a pillow, thought. I turn around and look at the time. _7:57 am._

The realization dawns on me and I wake up horror. "I'm going to be lateee!" I scream and start getting ready. Brushing my teeth and taking out my clothes together. It's surprising how fast a person can work when they're getting late. I don't see anyone at home. Where are they? Did they already leave? I'm in too much of a hurry to notice so I just keep going.

When I'm ready, I step into the kitchen, searching for something to eat when Nat appears, looking even more sleepy. Looks like no one told him the agenda either. Oh shit. He has school. I'm older. More responsible. (Should be.) "Nate! Come on, get ready. School!" I say. "Relax, Tessa. Founder's Day. I'm on holiday." He grins. Sadist. "Where are mom and dad?" I ask him. "They had to leave for some conference. They took a late night flight yesterday. They'll be back in a few days. Now off, Tessa! You're late."

The realization dawns on me once again and I rush, "Take care, Nate! Leave the house standing by the time I get back." I say, kissing him on the cheek, which he so hates. "Bye, Tessa." he said, rubbing my loving kiss off his cheek. Ingrate.

I run out of the house when I see The Stranger coming out of the house next to ours. I ignore him and get ready for my sprint. For someone who's so lazy, all I seem to be doing these days is run. "Hey! Screamer!" The Stranger screams. I'm pretty sure the whole street heard him calling me that. "I'm getting late. Can we chat later?" I say, showing him how busy I am for his attitude by showing him some attitude before he can show me any attitude. (Yes, I did just say attitude thrice in the same sentence. WIN.) "Chat? Sure. What's your name?" he asks. "Tessa." I whisper through clenched teeth. "I'm Will." he says. "I didn't ask." I reply. "I'm sure you wanted to know, Tessa." he winks and drives off in his swanky car. Ugh. _How did he know that?_


End file.
